Childs wins Champion of Champions Award

Rodney Smith - Special to Village News

Jody Childs, Fallbrook resident and horse riding instructor, along with her horse Torrey, upstaged a highly competitive field to win the coveted Champion of Champions Award in the Stallion Performance Division at the Southern California Peruvian Paso Horse Show in Los Angeles Sept. 15.

“Every year the show declares a champion. That qualifies the horse to go into the Champion of Champions,” Childs said. “Therefore the class is comprised of prior year champions against the current year champion(s). The judges are free to ask for any maneuvers during the class. They also can request a portion of the class do individual maneuver(s) as a tie breaker which was the case in my class.

“The show I attended was a double show meaning the two judges decided independently and simultaneously. Whereas I was double champion, I was single champion of champions. I was over the moon nonetheless,” she said.

Her victory was unprecedented for two reasons.

“You have to understand,” she explained later. “These riders go to bed thinking about competition only to awaken the next morning thinking about it, again. This is 100% of their life, to compete.”

And, although Childs has enjoyed and excelled in competing in various styles of horsemanship since she was a teenager, she said competition itself is not her primary driver.

“It’s the therapy aspect of horsemanship that has hooked me all throughout my career. My main focus is on my customers, teaching and encouraging them,” Childs said.

To add a slightly different twist on what success is for her personally, she said, “Yes, sometimes success is measured by winning, but for me success is bringing joy into someone’s life because of a relationship with an animal that connects them together.”

To fulfill this purpose at Del Dios Training Stables, Childs uses gaited horses, primarily the Peruvian Paso, to teach adults how to ride.

Gaited horses, particularly Peruvians, have a smooth, almost flying carpet-like feeling, no matter what speed the rider is working them – and as Childs said after the competition, not one contestant fell off their horse. It is uncommon in other types of horse events where riders hit the ground routinely.

Coupled with their smooth gait, Peruvians are also known for their desire to please and willingness to work. Their temperament is ideal for the adult student interested in learning how to ride, and this in turn makes it far easier for Childs to achieve her core agenda – to facilitate her students’ happiness, personal growth and development of life skills through interactions with horses, she said.

Equine therapy and equine assisted activities cross a wide spectrum of human activities. Studies show that children going through psychotherapy progress further if they also partake in horseback riding lessons as compared to children who just undergo psychotherapy alone.

Soldiers returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder have been helped by their interactions with horses under the guidance of professional trainers. Corporations such as Disney and Volkswagen have taken their leadership teams to witness horse training methods to learn how genuine, effective leadership actually starts first and foremost with building trust and partnership.

Life coaches are now employing horses to help those seeking to find a richer connection to their lives. Childs, in her training, said she often sees how people learn to establish healthier boundaries in their relationships with others with the help of her horses, how they gain confidence and greater freedom in their lives.

A challenging childhood is a common theme among many great horse people, and Childs’ childhood was not the easiest, she said.

A curious and confused therapist once asked Childs why, upon hearing of her childhood, she did not act out, get into drugs or some other form of destructive behavior. She said tears came to her eyes as she replied, “It was the horses.” Instead of acting out, Childs found an outlet as a young girl.

Her work and her ministry today is to help others have an outlet as they go through whatever healing transitions they are going through, no matter what their age, Childs said, having witnessed how horses help make these transitions a little smoother and gentler over the year.

The second reason for Childs’ unexpected victory in Los Angeles was because her horse, Torrey, she said. Torrey was frightfully “green” when she took ownership of him only a year ago.

The previous owners were delighted she chose him because they felt she was his best and possibly only chance to achieve his potential, Childs said.

“He came to me with a lot holes in his training,” she said, whimsically adding, “He’s like Swiss cheese in that sense.”

But Childs said she saw his potential and witnessed his profound willingness to please her. Over the weeks and months of training, many of his holes were filled. And thus he “unexpectedly” nabbed a championship from other horses favored to win. As one longtime veteran breeder attending the show said, “I’m beginning to see just how good Jody really is.”

And yet as one of her students commented afterward, “With or without the award, Jody Childs is a gifted trainer and riding instructor… Nothing has changed really, but sometimes you need the award for the acknowledgment.”

While Child said her primary dream is now is to create a healing center for humans and horses to interact, she is delighted to have won the Champion of Champions Award in Los Angeles last week, as winning this championship was a 10-year goal in the making.

When she and Torrey’s names were announced as the winners, she said she gasped in disbelief.

“I just want to help others fulfill their dreams, too, whatever those dreams may be,” she said.

Childs will compete with Torrey in Nationals in Scottsdale, Arizona, in October.

“It’s a longshot but I don’t want to regret not trying,” Childs said.